This
year there will be 400 years from the day when Giovanni Maria Ber­nardoni the
famous Italian architect who worked in Belarus has died. Last twenty years we
can see increasing interest in work of the Italian master. The reason for this
interest is linked to the discovering of the architect drawing collection
related to Belarus and dated XVI—XVII in the V. I. Vernadsky National Ukrainian
Library in Kiev. Belarusian scientists Heorhi Halen­čanka and Tamara
Habruś who first studied this collection say that most of the drawings
were done by Bernardoni himself.

An
anthology of articles L’architetto Gian Maria Bernardoni sj tra l’Italia e
le terre dell’Europa centro–orientale dedicated to work of G. M. Bernardoni
was published in Rom in 1999. Acquaintance with these articles and pre­sentation
of own obser­vations by the author of this elaboration allow us to see the life
and work of Giovanni Maria Bernardoni in a new perspective.

First
documented appearance of G. M. Bernardoni in Rom was recorded in 1564 when he
was 23 years old and has been working as a mason for ten years. Being member of
the Order of Jesuits he participated in construction of different buildings for
the Order in Rom, Milan, Florence, Neapol, and on the Sardinia Island.In Italy Bernardoni masters his knowledge in
math, tea­ches construction skills to his assistants, creates own sketches of
churches and buildings for the Order of Jesuits. His critical atti­tude toward
the comments of Jesuit authorities on his projects reveals his level of
professionalism.

In
1583 the board of the Order of Jesuits sends Bernardoni to the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth (Reč Paspalitaja) where he stayed for the rest of his life.
Here the architect leads designing, planning, and construction of buildings for
the Order in Lublin, Poznań, Kalisz, Niasviž, and Kraków.

In
1586 the architect goes to Niasviž where located a residence of the prince
Radzivil „Orphan“ the biggest magnate of the Commonwealth. Bernardoni lived
there for 13 years. He managed the construction of Jesuit College and completed
pro­ject of Corpus Christi Church — the first building in Baroque style on the
territory of the Commonwealth. After completion of main structure of this
church Bernardoni moves to Kraków in 1599 to lead the construction of
St. Peter & St. Paul Jesuit church. Here he died in 1605.

At the
end of this article there is a detailed genesis analysis of the architect
drawing collection from Kiev dated XVI—XVII. The author per­formed study of
text graphology, sketch graphics, correlation of paper production dates with
time when drawn constructions were built and Ber­nardoni’s life phase.As a result, the author demonstrates that
the architect drawing album was created not by Bernardoni himself, but by one
of his disciples, possibly, by Jan Fran­kiewicz. Jan Frankiewicz continued
Bernar­doni’s work in Niasviž and later became the author and the head of
St. Kazimir Jesuit Church construction in Vilnia.